Hello Bloggers!

After two months, I can say Montana now feels like home, and there are no complaints here! Being surrounded by mountains, wildflowers and some Ponderosa Pines is quite a marvelous experience. Missoula is located along the Clark Fork River, and it is absolutely breathtaking. While looking for the sensitive species bladder pod a few days ago, a humming bird came to greet us at the bottom and top of the ridge, which is a very good omen, so this is going to be a great field season. The field office is blooming with excitement of the summer and all of the seasonals are officially here!

I am primarily a Forestry technician, but a wonderful part about the Missoula field office is that we are able to dabble in a myriad of different types of fieldwork. As a forestry technician I predominantly preform forest inventories, which include: assessing the forests habitat type, age and abundance of trees, richness of understory vegetation, and what wildlife has utilized the land and we look for any sensitive or invasive plant species.

Xerophyllum tenax (Bear Grass)

I have also participated in fence building, which has truly tested my muscles. Fence building is definitely a tedious, meticulous activity. We had to set up “H” posts, that held the fence together at critical locations, and then put in posts intermittently until the next “H” post. Pounding in the posts is unquestionably the hardest part. We were on a really rocky, steep slope making it difficult to put the posts in, but we did it! Here are a few pictures of our success!

My Mentor, being a model fencing citizen

Until next time!